Corridor 4 of 12
Bottisham Greenway
Absorbed the shared Cambridge-end section from the Swaffhams and gained Riverside, but lost its Wilbraham link, and the Ditton Lane underpass proposed since 2016 was rejected.
In design or planning
What became of the 4 proposals for this corridor
What the 2016 review asked for
- Minor improvements and solar studs on the existing Stow-cum-Quy to Bottisham path
- New 1.2 km path in the A1303 verge to link with Wilbraham Road
- Upgrade the Newmarket Road Park & Ride and Ditton Lane / Fison Road junction
What happened
- Autumn 2019Initial route consultation.
- June 2020Board approval alongside Swaffhams.
- Spring 2023Updated plans presented; the route is extended west towards Cutter Ferry Bridge. They include a widened shared path on Bell Road and a 20mph limit with red surfacing on Lode Road, towards Bottisham Village College.
- 2023An underpass at Ditton Lane, not in the 2016 review but put forward since, is investigated and rejected in June 2023 as 'poor value for money', citing utilities, flood risk, land cost and underpass safety. Camcycle tells the Joint Assembly it is a missed 'game-changing' improvement. The twenty-year-old signal-controlled crossing is kept; the plans add a parallel crossing of Fison Road.
- June 2023Board approval following design refinements.
- December 2025Land procurement, designs and road safety audits under way.
- 2 June – 13 July 2026Consultation on the Riverside section: wider footways, crossings, seating and cycle parking over 2.5 miles from Elizabeth Way Bridge to Stourbridge Common.
- Late 2026Construction expected to begin, subject to planning.
Where it stands, November 2026
In design. GCP said in December 2025 that a planning application would follow once detailed designs and the full business case are finished. The 2026/27 budget makes the largest single jump in the programme — from £1.0m to £4.16m. The Wilbraham Road verge path, which the review itself flagged as the weaker case, is gone. Local campaigners report that the 2023 proposals for Bell Road and Lode Road have also been dropped, so the route will end at a back entrance to the village college halfway up Bell Road, leaving the busy village centre as it is. At the Cambridge end, the new cycleway from the Marleigh development, open since 2023, still stops at Ditton Lane. An underpass there was not part of the 2016 plan, but it was investigated as an improvement and rejected in 2023 with nothing new in its place. The campaign thinks it should be reconsidered.
Sources for this page
Every proposal on this route
| Proposed intervention (2016) | Type | Scale | Status 2026 | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minor improvements and solar studs on the existing Stow-cum-Quy to Bottisham path | Upgrade | ~5 km | In design or planning | Carried into the scheme; designs in final review, planning application pending. |
| New path in the A1303 verge to link with Wilbraham Road | New route | 1.2 km | Not in current programme | Identified in 2016 as a weaker case; not in the current scheme. |
| Underpass at Ditton Lane, carrying the route under the road towards Ditton Meadows | New structure | underpass | Not in current programme | Added after 2016: not in the 2016 review, which asked only to upgrade the route near the Ditton Lane / Fison Road junction. An underpass was later put forward and investigated, then rejected by GCP in June 2023 as 'poor value for money', citing utilities, flood risk, land cost and underpass safety. Camcycle told the Joint Assembly it was a missed 'game-changing' improvement. Nothing new replaces it: the signal-controlled crossing has been there for around twenty years, and the plans add only a parallel crossing of Fison Road, leaving greenway users on a narrow shared footway on the east side of Ditton Lane. The Marleigh cycleway, open since 2023, still stops here. We think the underpass should be reconsidered. |
| Riverside, Cambridge — wider footways, crossings, seating, cycle parking | Upgrade | 2.5 miles | In design or planning | Added to the scheme after 2016; public consultation ran 2 June to 13 July 2026. |